Canella

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the plant. For people with the name, see
Canella (surname)
.
Not to be confused with Canela.

Canella

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Magnoliids
Order: Canellales
Family: Canellaceae
Genus: Canella
P. Browne, 1756
Species:
C. winterana
Binomial name
Canella winterana
(L.) Gaertn., 1788[2]
Synonyms

Canella alba Murray[3]
Laurus winterana L.[4]

Canella is a monospecific genus containing the species Canella winterana, a tree native to the Caribbean from the Florida Keys to Barbados. Its bark is used as a spice similar to cinnamon, giving rise to the common names cinnamon bark, wild cinnamon, and white cinnamon.[5]

Description

indehiscent, 2 to 4-seeded.[6]

A tree, with scaly aromatic bark, stout ashy gray branchlets conspicuously marked with large orbicular leaf-scars.

Ovary free, included in the androecium, cylindrical or oblong-conical, one-celled, with two parietal placentas, few-ovuled; style short, fleshy, the summit two or three-lobed, stigmatic; ovules arcuate, horizontal or descending, imperfectly anatropous, attached by a short funiculus. Fruit globular or slightly ovate, fleshy, minutely pointed with the base of the persistent style. Seeds reniform, suspended; testa thick, crustaceous, shining black; tegmen soft, membranaceous. Embryo curved, near the summit of the copious oleo-fleshy albumen, its radicle next the hilum; cotyledons oblong.[6]

The

specific gravity of the absolutely dry wood grown in Florida is 0.9893; a cubic foot of the dry wood weighs 61.65 pounds.[6]

Canella attains in Florida a height of 25 to 30 feet, with a straight trunk eight to 10 inches in diameter. On the mountains of

obovate, round or slightly emarginate at the apex, and contracted into a short, stout, grooved petiole; they are 3.5-5.0 in long, 1.5-2.0 in broad, bright deep green, and lustrous. The flowers open in the autumn, and the fruit ripens in March and April, when it is bright crimson, soft, and fleshy, and is eaten by many birds.[6]

Name

Canella, the diminutive of the

William Winter.[9]

Distribution

Canella is widely distributed, and not uncommon on the Florida Keys, where it was first discovered by

Dipholis, and Nectandra.[6]

Canella was one of the first American trees to attract the attention of Europeans, and it is mentioned in the accounts of many of the early voyages to America:[6]

We found there a tree whose leaf had the finest smell of cloves that I have ever met with; it was like a laurel leaf, but not so large: but I think it was a species of laurel.

— Diego Álvarez Chanca, January 1494[10]

The white bark, the brilliant deep green foliage, and crimson fruit make the Canella one of the most ornamental of the smaller south Florida trees. It was introduced into England in 1738, and was first cultivated in Europe by Philip Miller.[6]

References

  1. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T181217390A181464875.en
    . Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  2. ^ "Canella winterana (L.) Gaertn". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 2009-10-10.
  3. ^ Linnaeus, Carl; Murray, Johan Andreas (1784). Systema Vegetabilium (14th ed.). Typis et impensis Jo. Christ. Dieterich. pp. 443–444. Retrieved 2009-10-10.
  4. ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1753). "Laurus foliis enerviis obovatis obtusis". Species Plantarum. p. 371.
  5. ISBN 978-0-8493-2332-4
    .
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Sargent, Charles Sprague; Faxon, Charles Edward (1891). The silva of North America. Vol. 1. Boston, New York: Houghton, Mifflin and company. pp. 35–38. Retrieved 2009-10-11. This article incorporates text from Sargent, which is in the public domain.
  7. ^ Canella in International Plant Names Index. (see External links below).
  8. ^ Patrick Browne. 1756. The Civil and Natural History of Jamaica:275. T.Osborne & J. Shipton: London, UK. (See External links below).
  9. ^ Woodville, William (1792). Medical botany. Vol. 2. London: James Phillips. p. 320.
  10. ^ Major, Richard Henry, ed. (1847). "A Letter addressed to the Chapter of Seville by Dr. Chanca, native of that city, and physician to the fleet of Columbus, in his second voyage to the West Indies, describing the principal events which occurred during that voyage". Select letters of Christopher Columbus. Vol. 2. p. 23.

External links

  • Canella At: Plant Names At: IPNI
  • Canella In: The Civil and Natural History of Jamaica At: Patrick Browne At: Authors At: Botanicus
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